Karachi – Thursday, 14 May 2009: “This is the beginning for us, as adults, to take this cause forward, and highlight its importance to broader society. We will collaborate with the government and work in partnership with all key stakeholders to achieve the ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities.”

These were the views of Mr. Amin Hashwani, President of the Network for Organisation Working for People with Disabilities (NOWPDP) at the youth convention celebrating the collection of more than half-a-million signatures for the ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities. This initiative is a joint collaboration between NOWPDP and CMPHR. Children representing 104 schools and organisations in Karachi have been collecting signatures on a petition addressed to the Prime Minister of Pakistan requesting him to sign and ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which was symbolically handed over to Mr. Hashwani to convey their efforts to the government. So far 668,730 signatures have been collected that is part of a campaign initiated by the Children’s Museum for Peace and Human Rights (CMPHR) at the Youth Advocacy Forum at the Aga Khan University Auditorium.

He further added that the Network and its partners have planned to assist the policymakers and the legislative function of the government about the rights of people with disabilities, and will present almost a million signatures on the petition to the Speaker of the National Assembly and the Chairman of Senate, of the Government of Pakistan.

The first stage of the campaign was achieved when the government signed the UN convention on 25^th September 2008. Since then a petition has been launched to persuade the government to take the next step and ratify the Convention so that laws are put in place that allow people with disabilities to enjoy their rights. So far 53 countries have ratified the Convention, including India, Oman and Bangladesh, but Pakistan is not yet one of them, despite over 3.5 million people with disabilities in the country. The urgency of ratifying and implementing the instrument can in no way be denied, given the extreme stigmatization and marginalization of people with disabilities in Pakistan.

The keynote speaker, Senator (R) Iqbal Haider, Co-Chairman, Human Right Commission and former Attorney General and Federal Minister for Law and Justice, briefly described the Convention and its purpose, explaining the processes and significance of signing and ratifying the instrument. He expressed the immediacy of the need for ratification. He said that the dire situation of persons with disabilities, the world over, including Pakistan, has meant that the Convention and its Optional Protocol are essential instruments to be signed, ratified and implemented by all countries. They are legally binding instruments defining the legal obligations of the government to promote and protect the rights of persons with disabilities.

 

NOWPDP, an initiative of the Aga Khan Council for Pakistan, works in collaboration with key stakeholders towards the improvement of quality of lives of people with disabilities in Pakistan. The Network enjoys at present the membership of more than a hundred nongovernmental organizations and disabled peoples organizations (DPO’s) nation-wide and is fast becoming a force to be reckoned in accepting an open society for persons with disabilities.

As part of the Disability Activism Project, CMPHR has actively petitioned for Pakistan to sign the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (UNCPRD) by engaging over 83 schools and 11 institutions. In April 2009, it presented 75,000 signatures collected by students to the Government of Pakistan to make the country a signatory to the instrument.

 

 “Although the collection and handing over of more than half-a-million signatures was a big step forward in their campaign, we will not stop here and will continue to campaign until the UN convention will be ratified by the Government of Pakistan. Through this Forum, we hope to encourage children to participate with even greater enthusiasm in the activism movement as well as increase their awareness and understanding of the cause”, said Mr. Zulfiqar Ali, Director of CMPHR, in his concluding address.

CMPHR formerly Human Rights Education Programme (HREP) has been working in Pakistan since 1995. Their goal is to inculcate the concept of human rights education into local school’s curriculum through teacher trainings as well as the development of educational materials and activism campaigns that directly involve children.

Children representing more than 100 schools and 20 organizations, working for people with disabilities and representatives of the media attended the event.  

 

 

 

 

Editors Note:

Network of Organizations Working for Persons with Disabilities, Pakistan (NOWPDP) is an initiative taken by His Highness the Aga Khan Council for Pakistan, launched on the 9th of May 2008. Its primary aim is to make a significant difference to the quality of life and welfare of persons with disabilities by the provision of strategic support augmenting the functioning of organizations working for, and with, such persons across Pakistan.  
 
NOWPDP’s approach to its goal is multifaceted. The Network stands as an apolitical, non-sectarian, non-partisan and neutral platform, and will conduct its programmes without regard to faith, origin or gender. NOWPDP intends to create space and voice for persons with disabilities and the organizations working for them, and advocate the obstacles faced by them to key socio-political and economic stakeholders. As a Network, it will form linkages between organizations working for people with disabilities and corporations, the state and media. We also aim to facilitate the planning and implementation of governance, management and operations programs and activities of our member organizations as well as expand their capacity development to this end. To pursue its objectives, NOWPDP will rely on the energy, dedication, and skill of volunteers as well as remunerated professionals, and draw upon the talents of people of all faiths. 
 
NOWPDP seeks to take effective and concrete action by working with similarly-minded organizations to create synergistic and lasting change in the existing vacuum swallowing the rights of people with disabilities and denying them the social justice, dignity and equality that is their birthright as much as it is anyone else’s. www.nowpdp.org  

The Children’s Museum for Peace and Human Rights (CMPHR) was originally known as the Human Rights Education Programme (HREP) that was launched in 1995. Following the success of HREP’s initial activities with schools and children, it was decided that a museum where children were able to engage in social, cultural and educational activities focusing on social issues would be built. The purpose of this museum is to function as the first proactive children’s institution in Pakistan. Under the auspices of this ‘Building Project,’ HREP was renamed the Children’s Museum for Peace and Human Rights (CMPHR). The CMPHR has a network of students from over 350 schools across Pakistan and aside from the ‘Building Project’ also runs campaigns on various social issues. http://www.cmphr.org/

For further information, please contact:

Naeem Razwani
Manager Communications
H.H. Aga Khan Council for Pakistan
Telephone: + 92 21 586 12 42
Cellular: + 92 321 255 89 48
Facsimile: + 92 21 586 12 72
Email: naeem.razwani@akcpk.org